The meta-rule is "Do stuff that gives you status" (or at least be perceived to do said stuff). Anything that will get a group of people paying attention to you as you either do it, or tell them about doing it.

It can be playing guitar, rock climbing, motorcycle racing, just getting back from overseas, winning big in Vegas, opening a brew pub, getting your black belt, whatever.

A big step in that direction is not being in your room playing Xbox. Another key feature is to achieve things as an individual - don't get buried in the group.

cbathrob:See, my problem is that I actually tried to play the guitar, often while sitting in my dorm lounge. Yeah, I was that guy. Sadly, it never got me laid.

If you realize that you're not impressing the ladies, just tell them "Usually I'm pretty good but the reason I suck today is because last time I went to the music store I accidentally bought left-handed strings."

Nickninja:This kindof stuff is what pisses me off the most. While I spent my formative years learning useful skills and advancing my career potential, I was all alone while douchebags who learned to play guitar got laid. Yes, now that I'm a successful adult I've had plenty of girlfriends, but I will never get back the high school/college years when I could have had wild sex with barely legal girls.

You don't actually need to learn how to play. As TFA points out, merely holding the guitar was enough to triple the numbers of girls who would give the guy a phone number.

And most of the guys who I would see "play" the guitar on the quad, surrounded by groups of adoring women, just strummed the guitar real slowly while singing in-between strokes. There's no learning there, anyone can do that. The hard part is having a semi-decent singing voice and being able to sing the idiotic lyrics that makes women think you are "deep" and "in touch with your emotions".

SnakeLee:If you play in a park, on the beach, etc., most of the time people will come up and randomly try to give you a dollar which is super shiatty and annoying.

Oh no, people are trying to give me money! Man up, put a hat out in front of you, and practice to your heart's content. So what if you come home with $20 more than you had when you started.

Guitarist, here. Was once asked to play and lead the singing at a graveside service for an elderly aunt. When I checked into the hotel the night before, I had an acoustic Martin 12-string in a hard shell case. Met two young hotties in the hall, on the way to my room.

They were all dressed up and on their way out to par-tey. They cooed and said something like "Oooh! Want to play for us, tonight?" Did I mention they were "too young" hotties? Jeez. I was sad about my aunt, and that made me even sadder.

I can tell you that it works. It allows you to score the hot girl, or at least get their attention you otherwise would not get. Even the ugly praise and worship guys get chicks, and yes some of us ARE the real and sincere type, why do you ask?

/married my hot girl I met at my christian youth group, where I was playing the guitar.//still married and committed 19 years later

nickerj1:AlwaysRightBoy: I've lent out some of my dogs to single friends but I'll tell them about the odds with a guitar.

I had significant success with my dog. You can immediately start talking to any girl in any situation if you have a dog with you. It is socially acceptable.

Ya, you look like a total AW, but if you take a dog to whichever area in your town has all the bars/restaurants, etc. it's like shooting fish in a barrel. It's extremely contrived and pathetic, but effective.

They do like jocks, but only if they have status. Any fool can (and many do) walk around with gym bags without doing anything special. But being a jock in high school had status. It doesn't work that way out of high school where you could be participating in any sporting activity and people in the in-group of the women probably don't particularly care if you can do 100 push-ups.

noitsnot:The meta-rule is "Do stuff that gives you status" (or at least be perceived to do said stuff). Anything that will get a group of people paying attention to you as you either do it, or tell them about doing it.

It can be playing guitar, rock climbing, motorcycle racing, just getting back from overseas, winning big in Vegas, opening a brew pub, getting your black belt, whatever.

A big step in that direction is not being in your room playing Xbox. Another key feature is to achieve things as an individual - don't get buried in the group.

Professional guitarist here, my family pays me not to play, and in my years of research done before I was married it's not just the instrument but also the related terminology. Being able to use lines that include words like F-holes, humbuckers and P coils in a sustained conversation can produce a lot of positive feedback and possibly lead to demonstrations of two finger triads.

It definitely works. My buddy plays gigs all around Orlando and while he's a relatively decent lookin guy, he's no Ryan Gosling 2.0. Kind of that grungy, my mom may still shop for me type appearance. He's smart and educated though.

That being said, he bagged a 9/10 in looks, 2/10 in lifestyle (29 and has 3 kids with different dudes). But he gets a lot of attention otherwise and he's not cheesy like some of those lame guys you see at coffee shops and stuff.